Why You Should Use Data Visualization

Written by Jon Hazell on 28 January 2014.

Why use data visualization?

Science, that’s why.

Yes this is simple, but that’s kind of the point. As humans, our brains are wired to process information in a graphic format better, where we can visually compare items. Drilling down even further than that, our brains are set up in such a way that we process certain types of information more easily with specific visuals (information over time, for instance, is best understood through a line chart/graph).

If you would like some more information on how humans process data through visualization, check out our article on the Psychology of Dashboards or our presentation to the University of Toronto’s Association for Information Systems below. At the 5:57 mark is where we discuss the brain's ability to process data and cover types of visualizations that our brains process easily and also how the human brain spots patterns.